Following is a cut and paste from the draft thread. Might add more later.

Eden Hall selects an explosive right winger (every source but Pelletier calls him a RW), who had a brilliant peak until he managed to cross his dictator, I mean coach, Victor Tikhonov, who then proceeded to bury him:

Nikolai Drozdetsky, RW

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Pelletier

Nikolai Drozdetsky was an explosive left winger with the old Soviet Red Army teams of the 1980s.

- Selected Soviet Player of the Year in 1984 (2nd place was Tretiak, then Fetisov, then Makarov)

- Awarded "the Merited Sports Master (Zasluzhenny Master Sporta or ZMS) which is the top award given to outstanding sports personalities in Russia. By analogy with the biggest honor in professional hockey in Canada, it is often called the 'Russian Hall of Fame.'" (chidlovski)

Domestic League

- Finished 3rd in Soviet League scoring twice in the early 80s - not an easy task. Makarov, Larionov, Krutov, and Balderis are the only other players with multiple top 3 scoring finishes in the Soviet League in the 1980s. Kapustin (2nd, 4th) and Bykov (4th, 4th) were close.

- In 1981, he was behind only Makarov and Kapustin in scoring. In 1984, he was behind only Makarov and Krutov.

International

- Dominated the 1984 Olympics with 10 goals in 7 games.

- Scored an outstanding 64 goals in 109 games for the National team (0.58 GPG), despite never playing on the top unit. For comparison, Makarov scored 189 in 315 (0.60), Krutov scored 150 in 255 (0.59), Kapustin scored 120 in 208 (0.57), and Balderis scored 74 in 147 (0.50).

Buried by Tikhonov after 1984:

His career took a turn for the worse after he got on Victor Tikhonov's bad side. Tikhonov left Drozdetsky off the 1984 Canada Cup Team, the same year he won the award for the best player in the Soviet Union, then proceeded to bury him:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Pelletier

However his situation was far from rosy. Drozdetsky was not one of coach Victor Tikhonov's favorites, despite his scoring exploits. Life was never easy in the Soviet Union, but especially not easy if Tikhonov didn't like you.

Tikhonov deliberately left Drozdetsky off of the 1984 Canada Cup team that finish second to Canada. Drozdetsky was said to be at home nursing an undisclosed injury.

That appeared to be the last straw in the strained relationship. Drozdetsky fought to get his release from the Red Army team. By 1987 he joined SKA Leningrad. And by 1989 he was given permission to pursue a career in Sweden.

Drozdetsky joined a second division Swedish team named Boras. There Drozdetsky played with former NHLer Stefan Person. Drozdetsky was easily the most exciting player in the league, leading the league in scoring the first two years in the league. Drozdetsky spent a total of 6 years in Sweden, though he slowed as he aged over the years.